This invention relates in general to conveyors and in particular to a new and useful conveyor trough for chain scraper conveyors which includes a plurality of interengaged trough sections.
The invention relates particularly to a conveying trough for chain scraper conveyors which are assembled of trough sections for the conveyed material connected to each other with a clearance of motion and provided with guide plates. The trough sections are equipped with connecting elements and the guide plates are provided on their inside, in the zone of their ends, with segmental projections. A common link plate is associated with every two neighboring guide plates to be latched to each other, and is provided with eyes separated by a web, for receiving the two segmental projections which are embraced by the link plate and confine the web extending therebetween to a predetermined clearance of motion. To be able to equip the trough sections with guide plates at the mine surface and to adapt the guide plates to serve as guideways for a cutter or another winning machine, the guide plates are adjusted, in accordance with an earlier patent application Ser. No. 116,234 of the applicant, as box sections having an upper running surface forming the track for the cutter.
The outer wall of the box extends by a predetermined distance beyond the segmental projections on the inside, and the associated ends of the plates form a butt gap in which the running surface is interrupted. The link plate embracing the segmental projections is lockable in position by means of locking plates which can be inserted with a predetermined clearance of motion therebetween, into the gap, to be flush with the surface of the link plate and the running surface, so that they form a track bridge in the area of the butt joint of two adjacent track plates.
In another, parallel disclosure by the applicant, it is provided that the guide plates do not form a running surface for a cutter directly, but that they support guide rails with an inwardly projecting guide claw whose top surface forms the track for the cutter wheel and whose underside is engaged from beneath by a hold-down member carried by the cutter and having a corresponding claw-like leg, so that the cutter cannot tilt upwardly and the sprocket wheels engaging a chain guide of the cutter are not loaded by tilting moments.